Dreams

It’s a cool but sunny Sunday afternoon. Despite the cold, I’m warm. I have two blankets and a cat upon my knee.

My daughter Sophie shares the family room with me. She’s been editing big sister Imogen’s latest music video. We filmed it last Friday morning.

Just before 6 am on the last day of the week, we headed up the mountain. We drove past the lookout where we filmed the song How Great Thou Art, and down a rutted dirt road, which leads to a picnic area and a second lookout. It was still dark when we parked the car. We peered out the windows watching for first light. It arrived. It was time to begin work.

Sophie set the cameras upon the tripods. I took photos with a spare camera, adjusting the settings as the sky grew lighter. Charlotte began filming the behind-the scenes, and Gemma-Rose snapped Instagram photos with Imogen’s phone. Imogen did what stars do: a lot of smiling for the camera.

An hour and a half later, we’d finished. Sophie had enough clips to put together a video. I had several hundred or more photos. We all had an empty feeling within us. It was time to eat.

“That was the best film shoot we’ve had in a while,” someone observed as we ate breakfast.

“It was cold but not freezing like last time.” Yes, a gale-force wind tried to blow us over the lookout while we were filming How Great Thou Art.

“And we didn’t have any problems with the light because of the cloud cover.” The sun didn’t get a chance to cast unwanted shadows in unwanted places.

“Did you see the people with their dogs?” asked Imogen. “I saw them from the corner of my eye while I was singing.”

“At least they didn’t walk into our video.” Not like the dog walker who wanted to be part of our May It Be video.

“We didn’t have any unexpected surprises like leeches.” We shuddered. That was a very unpleasant encounter.

No, it was a very unadventurous video shoot. And we were all grateful.

Yesterday, as Sophie and I were walking our dog Nora, we chatted about the video shoot.

“Imogen’s recorded quite a few songs. Her Youtube channel‘s looking good,” said Sophie.

“She wouldn’t be able to do it without you. How does it feel knowing you’re an essential part of the team?”

“It’s a great feeling knowing I have skills and someone needs me. At the same time, it feels like a lot of responsibility. What if I make a mistake?”

But Sophie’s mistakes are few. She moves between the cameras with confidence. She knows what she’s doing. Not that she knows everything. Of course, she’s still learning. But, then again, so is everyone.

“Would you like to film music videos as a career?” I asked.

Sophie’s eyes lit up. “That would be wonderful!”

“What if Imogen became famous? Would you like to continue filming her videos?”

“That would a dream career!”

Two sisters working together to fulfil their dreams. Will they be successful? We don’t know.

We do know that following dreams involves a lot of hard work and commitment. Success rarely happens overnight. The girls need to keep believing in themselves and their abilities.

But before a dream can be realised, it has to be identified.

So what’s your dream?

Update:

Imogen’s music video, In Dreams, is now live on Youtube!

Not only is Sophie Imogen’s videographer, she’s also her hair stylist. Sophie seems to know how to do an endless variety of braids! Do you like this side braided bun?

Comments

I just think it's so wonderful the way the girls work together, have fun together, learn from each other. It's unschooling at it's finest, don't you think? I can't wait to hear the new song, The Lord of the Rings is a bit of a favourite here, my 9 year old is reading it and my 16 year old is learning some music for piano from the movie 🙂

You are so right! It's lovely watching my children's talents develop, but it's even more enjoyable watching them working and having fun together. We are so very fortunate that we can live this unschooling way of life.

I wonder which piece of music your son is learning. There are so many good pieces from The Lord of the Rings!

Tomorrow is music video day. Thank you for always taking such an interest in our videos!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

I’m Sue Elvis. I blog and podcast about unschooling, parenting, and family life.

Welcome! I’m so glad you are here because I want to tell you about something very special: the LOVE and JOY of living an unschooling way of life!

A few facts: I live in NSW, Australia. I have a large family. We’ve been homeschooling/unschooling for over 25 years. My current stories are mostly about my four youngest daughters who are teenagers and young adults. However, there are plenty of stories here about when my children were at the younger stages of their lives.

Categories

Categories

Archives

Archives

My Podcasts

Want to know more about unschooling? How about radical unschooling? (It’s not as scary or as wild as some people make out!) Join me as I share ideas, stories, homeschool record-keeping tips and resources for living an unschooling life of unconditional love.

My Novels for Children

Have you read my two children’s novels? The Angels are a Catholic family living on the edge of the beautiful Australian bush. (You might recognise my family and our unschooling adventures in some of the stories!)